Sidecar couple battle through to end season on high note

The couple rode to a third and three fourth-place finishes in their final outing of the 2019 season at East Fortune, in Scotland.

Jen said: “The last meeting of the season is upon us and we can’t say we were sad about this.

“Although we love our racing, 20 meetings this year have taken their toll and we don’t mind admitting we travelled to East Fortune flagging a bit.”

In perfect conditions on Saturday they went out in practice to bed in some new brake pads and completed their qualifying third in their class and fifth overall, but a couple of seconds down on their personal best time.

In the opening Ian Bell Memorial race they got away well, but had a lonely race to cross the finish line fourth in their class (sixth overall) with a strong lap time of 1min 08secs.

The second race was cut to just eight laps because of incidents earlier in the day, and they enjoyed a good battle with Hadleigh/Sandy but were unable to make a pass.

They eventually crossed the finish line third in their class (fifth overall) with an improved lap time of 1.07.

Bad weather threatened for Sunday failed to materialise and the rain held off allowing the Lincolnshire pair to enjoy two further races and conclude their 2019 season.

Shortly before the first of Sunday’s two races, Giles was struck by a bad migraine and it looked as if the husband and wife team would have to pull out.

But after taking some medication he felt improved enough to set out for the race.

“Giles was riding really well which allowed us to achieve another 1min 7secs lap time to complete the race in sixth place overall and fourth in our class,” said Jen who was brought up and works in Market Rasen.

“But this came at a cost, and during the final stages of the session he started to feel very poorly again.

“We actually didn’t think we would make the last race, but we nursed him back from the brink!

“Giles really didn’t want to end the season in a race he couldn’t enjoy, but this time we really did have a good fight with Hadleigh and Sandy.

“They chasing hard and eventually passed us, and we then took the chase to them.

“It was great racing, as always with these two, and was one of our racing highlights of the year.

“We crossed the line sixth overall and fourth in class once again and enjoyed every minute.”

The pair would like to thanks their sponsors Interfuse, Motrac Race Engineering, MMC Agency, T&S Motors, Elite Signs and Strengu.

The Staintons plan to return next season bidding to make further progress in the FSRA Cup as well as a return to Scotland for more racing north of the border.